Norwalk girls basketball's terrific turnaround linked to Bailey Birmingham, new coach Josef Sigrist

It’s an early season game between the Norwalk and Bondurant-Farrar girls basketball teams, and the Bluejays’ gymnasium stands are dotted with fans of both programs.

Warriors’ sophomore Ava Carlson lines up at center court for the tip-off. Anna Larson — the only senior on Norwalk’s roster — stands behind Carlson, and junior guard Bailey Birmingham waits to Carlson's left.

The official tosses the ball into the air, Carlson wins the tip, Birmingham collects the ball and she’s off. She takes just eight steps between getting the ball and the basket, working her way around three Bondurant-Farrar defenders.

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Just three seconds passed before Birmingham released the ball toward the basket on a layup. The ball circled through the net and just five seconds disappeared off the clock by the time the ball hit the ground.

“Left hand up and good,” the Bondurant-Farrar announcer says. “That was maybe a little too easy.”

Birmingham built off those two points and finished with 37, leading Norwalk to a 68-55 win over the Bluejays. It marked the third straight win for the Warriors and helped them reach an eight-game winning streak to start the season. Norwalk now sits toward the top of the Little Hawkeye Conference with a 10-2 record.

Those first points by Birmingham did come easy.

But a lot of effort went into this season’s success.

Norwalk’s new coach came in with a vision to turn around the program

Last year, Norwalk girls basketball posted a 6-16 record.

In the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, the Warriors finished with winning records. But before those two successful campaigns, Norwalk posted losing season after losing season.

So, to win 10 games and lose just two matchups to start this season — after collecting six wins the year before — is unusual.

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And there must be a reason for the sudden turnaround.

One factor in Norwalk’s success is first-year head coach Josef Sigrist. This is his first season at the helm for the Warriors, but his resume includes a 10-year career at Valley, during which he compiled a 177-59 record, winning state titles in 2017 and 2019.

But after the 2022 season, he stepped away from the girls game.

“My son is on the varsity basketball team (at Norwalk),” Sigrist said. “I loved my time at Valley, but I was missing his games. I wanted to come here and be a part of that, at least as a fan.”

Sigrist volunteered as an assistant coach with the boys last year, getting a front-row seat for his son’s games. Then, the head coach position for the girls program opened. Applying for the job was a no-brainer for Sigrist.

“It just seemed like a perfect opportunity to coach these girls and then watch my son play right after,” Sigrist said. “It’s worked out really well so far.”

Turning around the program wasn’t as simple as changing the head coach, though.

Sigrist saw potential in the player on the girls squad when he watched their games last season. He knew they were young — relying on the scoring prowess of then-sophomore Birmingham.

But, from his point of view, there was another issue: Not everyone worked together.

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Once Sigrist secured the job, his first initiative focused on improving teamwork. He took his team to Northwest Missouri State’s team camp at the beginning of June. The sole purpose there was to bond as a team.

But success followed.

“We went 3-0 there, that kind of exceeded my expectations,” Sigrist said. “You could tell that they were yearning for that, just having fun and coming together as a team.”

Norwalk continued to compete as a team in the offseason. The Warriors went 13-1 in the summer and fall.

Most teams wouldn’t keep track of games that don’t count toward anything, but Sigrist wanted his athletes to see their growth. He wanted his team to use the offseason as a springboard into the regular season.

That’s exactly what the Warriors did.

Bailey Birmingham burst onto the scene, and success follows

Norwalk’s leading scorer hasn’t slowed down since the start of the season.

She scored 31 points in the first game, 33 in the second and 37 in the third. Her lowest single-game total is 12 points, and she’s been held to fewer than 20 points just three times this season. Birmingham has averaged 24.7 points per game, in addition to 6.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals.

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The spotlight remains on Birmingham, and for good reason.

But it takes five on the court to play a basketball game. Birmingham isn’t the only player who’s grown in the last year.

“We have the same team as we did last year,” Larson said. “I think we kind of just grew together as our culture has grown. It’s helped us play together more and know how to play with each other.”

The statistics reflect that new connection.

Carlson leads the team with 7.2 rebounds. Larson is one of the team’s leaders in assists. Junior Braelyn Clark is a pillar of consistency from the charity stripe, sophomore Pearl Brown does a bit of everything on the floor, and junior Avery Thomas and freshman Payton Travis barely turn over the ball.

Norwalk doesn’t win without the team contributions, even with Birmingham scoring at one of the highest clips in Iowa.

And with winning comes a newfound love of the game.

“It’s just really fun to be a part of this,” Birmingham said. “The past two years, it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be coming into high school. But this year, with changes and improvement, it’s been really fun.”

No more flying under the radar for Norwalk girls basketball

Larson is excited about the success during her senior season. She couldn’t imagine a better way to close out her high school career, and she likes being a part of a program that has proven doubters wrong.

She and Birmingham know that the Warriors flew under the radar at the start of the season.

“We were definitely underestimated by a lot of teams at the beginning of the season,” Birmingham said. “Now that we’ve shown what we’ve done, a lot of teams can’t overlook us.”

Norwalk’s winning streak was stopped by a loss to Lewis Central, and then the Warriors dropped its matchup against Dallas Center-Grimes right before the winter break. Both of those games served as learning lessons.

Sigrist’s team returned from a three-week break — a week longer than expected due to back-to-back snowstorms — with a win over Carlisle.

The hope is that the Warriors can continue to collect wins through the end of the season. Regardless of what happens over the next month or so, one thing is certain: Norwalk girls basketball is a program on the rise.

“I want our program to be the best,” Sigrist said. “We’ve got something special here.”

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bailey Birmingham, Josef Sigrist turn around Norwalk girls basketball